Breaking myths over breaking breads, a look at interfaith iftar

Jun 26, 2017 13:13 IST

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These are holy objects of secular culture. They are not the stereotypical decorations for a prayer room. Yet on Wednesday, they were precisely what surrounded Nazia Erum as she performed namaz during an “interfaith Iftar” party at her home in Noida. It was the last such event in a booming season of them. Earlier this Ramazan, Erum, a 30-year-old writer and clothing designer, had posted on Facebook asking if any of her friends had never attended an Iftar. She heard back from over ten times the number of people she expected. (Arun Sharma/HT PHOTO)

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Banding together with 11 other Muslim women, each of whom contributed food or funds, Erum organized an Iftar party for 70 people. Many guests had no familiarity with the nightly Ramazan celebration. Some had never been inside a Muslim person’s home. The hostesses set out to dispel increasingly common misperceptions of Islamic life. (Arun Sharma/HT PHOTO)

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Rana Safvi, 60, a scholar and columnist who is among Erum’s 11 fellow organisers, held forth. “Ramazan is about controlling all the base instincts,” she said. “The biggest jihad you may fight is the evil within you.” During the holiday, she added, “you are more ascetic, more inclined towards spirituality.” (Arun Sharma/HT PHOTO)

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Erum was struck by a study, released in April by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, which said that only 33% of Indian Hindus have a close friend who is Muslim. What if she could help change that? In addition to organizing four events in Delhi, one of which was composed of orphans, Erum facilitated the spread of the interfaith Iftars to Bombay, Hyderabad, and Guwahati. In each city, the hostesses attracted around 30 to 100 people to their dinners and said they were intent on holding more, similar events in the future. (Arun Sharma/HT PHOTO)

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All the invitees reported having never attended an Iftar, or not having gone to one for many years. (Arun Sharma/HT PHOTO)

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Seema Rao, a lawyer from Noida, poses with the jugs of Gulab Sharbat. (Arun Sharma/HT PHOTO)

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Hana Khan, 32, another of the organizers, just finished her training to become a pilot. Khan said that she was hesitant to speak to the press, but had decided this could be one useful function of the dinners. “Muslim women need to talk. We’ve been silent too long. We’ve been letting other people talk for us.” (Arun Sharma/HT PHOTO)

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Saman Qureshi, a host from Old Delhi, joins in with a bowl of fruits for the breaking of the fast. (Arun Sharma/HT PHOTO)

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‘When I came to Delhi I didn’t know anyone, I had faith on my Allah and humanity. I have taken the help of just dial to reach a PG accommodation of Lajpat Nagar in a Punjabi family, ‘ said Nazama . (Arun Sharma/HT PHOTO)

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Nazma and Pallavi are flat-mates and have been living together for past four years. Belonging to different sociocultural background, different family upbringing, different career goals, and of course different religious beliefs, but one thing kept us united; the respect for each other’s beliefs and choices (Arun Sharma/HT PHOTO)

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Najma and Pallavi share Iftar food at their house. Najma says she keeps it light during sehri and drinks cardamom lassi, a recipe taught by Pallavi, helps her keep fresh for a long time. (Arun Sharma/HT PHOTO)

about the gallery

In Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Guwahati, Muslim women are hosting Ramazan dinners, opening up their culture (and fabulous spread) to those outside the community.